In the Field

Pile o' Colourful Blubber. Great Bear Rainforest (northern BC coast). October 9, 2008.

When I travel to coastal areas I'm always struck by how much life lives in or around the ocean. I suppose this is partly because I'm a landlubber that lives in a land-locked (= non-coastal) mountain valley and partly because of my background as a biologist. Anyway....one of the creatures I'm fascinated by are the nearly ubiquitous Harbour Seals of the northern BC coast. I tend to think of them almost as "sea wolves" - not only are they clever carnivores, but - like wolves - they tend to be the absolute first scapegoat chosen by humans who want to harvest the same prey that's chosen by seals. And, of course, they are absolutely beautiful in their own right.

This shot was a "lucky grab" captured during a bear photography expedition. The inlet we were staying in has a sizable seal population and, at low tide, they regularly haul out on rocks and small islands. We passed by the rock shown in the image above several times and, on almost every occasion, the seals slide into the ocean long before we were close enough to get a decent shot. However, on one occasion a group of seals that covered pretty much the complete colour range of the species stayed on the rock as we approached in our Zodiac. Luck was with us - not only did we have nice light, but the water was absolutely calm as we approached. Photeus was smiling upon us this day.

The biggest challenge in capturing this shot was getting the exposure right. Not only were some of the seals pure black and white in colour (always a challenge to expose for!), but they were wet and strongly reflected light. So...overexposure of the highlights was the biggest concern. To solve the problem I backed off the exposure by 2/3 of stop to preserve the highlights (and retrieved shadow detail during processing of the raw image file).

This image was captured during my annual autumn "Spirit Bears and the Great Bear Rainforest" Instructional Photo Tour. If you're interested in joining me on one of my photo tours into the Great Bear Rainforest, check out the details on my "Photo Tours" page. My Instructional Photo Tours into the Great Bear Rainforest are run in conjunction with Ocean Light II Adventures - they offer a number of amazing adventure tours (including top-notch bear-viewing tours as well as tours of exploration of the Queen Charlotte Islands) and I highly recommend them!

Behind the Camera

Pile o' Colourful Blubber. Great Bear Rainforest (northern BC coast). October 9, 2008.

Digital Capture; Compressed RAW (NEF) 14-bit format; ISO 360.

Nikon D700 with AF-S Nikkor 600mm f/4G IF-ED II VR lens - handheld in moving Zodiac inflatable boat. VR turned to "On" and in "Normal" mode. Autofocus set to M/a mode.

1/160s @ f6.3; -0.67 stop compensation from matrix-metered exposure setting.

At the Computer

Pile o' Colourful Blubber. Great Bear Rainforest (northern BC coast). October 9, 2008.

RAW Conversion to 16-bit TIFF, including first-pass/capture sharpening, white balance adjustment and slight highlight recovery adjustment using Phase One's Capture One Pro 4.5. Multiple RAW conversions (2 at different exposure settings: -0.15 stops as base exposure and background, -0.5 stops for foreground water and highlight recovery on seals).

Further digital corrections on 16-bit TIFF file using Adobe's Photoshop CS4. Adjustments included Adjustments included compositing and masking of both exposure versions, selective colour desatuation and selective sharpening for web output.

Conservation

Pile o' Colourful Blubber. Great Bear Rainforest (northern BC coast). October 9, 2008.

Ten percent of the revenue generated by this image will be donated to The Raincoast Conservation Foundation.

Species Status in Canada*: Most Harbour Seal populations in Canada are not listed as Threatened or Endangered. The Lac des Loups Marins landlocked population of Quebec (Ungave Peninsula) currently listed as Endangered (most recent assessment update - November 2007).

The Harbour Seal (Phoca vitulina) is found on both the eastern and western coasts of North America. They tend not to make long migrations and in many areas they are present year-round. When foraging Harbour Seals normally dive to between 30 and 100 metres in depth and stay below the surface for 5 to 6 minutes. On occasion they have been known to dive to depths of over 450 metres and have stay submerged for almost 30 minutes. Harbour Seals have a diverse diet, including cephalopod, crustacceans and a variety of fish such as herring, eulachon, pollock, and salmon.

Historically bounty programs were used in both Canada and the USA to reduce populations of Harbour Seals. In more recent times seals have become protected over much of North America and some populations have rebounded strongly (it is estimated that over 150,000 seals now occupy the coast of British Columbia). There is a land-locked and freshwater sub-species of the Harbour Seal found on the Ungava Peninsula of northern Quebec. This population is now down to an estimated 100 individuals and is listed as Endangered by COSEWIC.

The The Raincoast Conservation Society (and Foundation) is an effective and efficient organization that has been fighting for protection of this unique habitat. If you are looking for a meaningful way to contribute to the conservation of this amazing ecosystem, Raincoast will provide maximal "bang" for your conservation dollars.

For more information on the status of Brown (Grizzly) Bears in Canada, go to: http://www.sararegistry.gc.ca and search under "Grizzly Bears"

*as determined by COSEWIC: The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada.